Nice job, 梁铠赞 !
梁铠赞 said:
The Yayoi and Yamato Mass Immigration from Korea
Around 400 BC, a sudden change occurred in Japanese culture. The Neolithic Jomon culture was overwhelmed by the Iron Age culture from Korea. Iron tools and irrigated rice fields with canals, dams, banks, paddies, and rice residues have been uncovered by archaeologists. This Iron Age culture of Japan is called the Yayoi, named after a district of Tokyo where in 1884 pottery similar to contemporary South Korean pottery was unearthed. "Many other elements of the new Yayoi culture were unmistakably Korean and previously foreign to Japan, including bronze objects, weaving, glass beads, and styles of tools and houses." (Diamond 1998)
Japan's population increased by an astonishing 7,000% during the Yayoi period. It is estimated that the Jomon people numbered less than 75,000 in about 400 BC. Korean farmers found the Japanese islands with warmer climates and abundant water a land of golden opportunity, and millions of them crossed the Tsushima Strait to Kyushu, and from there, to the other islands of Japan. The Koreans brought Korean farming practices, culture, language, and genes. The Koreans overwhelmed the stone age Jomon people.
Another major and sudden change occurred during 300-700 AD - the Yamato Period. Archaeological excavations dug up large tombs with lavish burial goods and frescos, which are identical to those found in Koguryo tombs. During this period, many nobles from Koguryo, Gaya and Baikje fled to Japan when their kingdoms collapsed.
What you summarized above appears to be closer to the historical truth than not, supported by solid archaeological studies, and one which can only gain more precision with further research. However, from the viewpoint of logical precision, the following are perhaps awaiting a more careful examination regarding the exact nature of 'Koreaness,' 'political control,' ' migration,' and 'invasion.'
Some Korean historians believe that some of the Korean kingdoms ruled over Japan during the Yamato period. Some historians believe that Puyo warriors from Korea invaded Japan and established the Yamato period of domination of Japan by Korea.
Some questions that need to be answered would probably include what kind of Korean influx into the Japanese archipelago the Korean expatriates were;
1) 1st wave of immigrants: were they paeo-asians, neo-asians, or a newly forged asian nationality ?
2) 2nd wave of immigrants: these must have been much closer to modern Koreans, but even that is only in hindsight.
The question is how can they be defined as 'Korean' if their time frame came before the unilinear beginning of modern Koreans around 668 of Shilla or 935 of Koryo? In fact, this is a theoretical question that followers of nationalistic historians of Japan/Korea need not be concerned with at all because the concept transcends their scope of historical perception. No offence meant, but I sincerely hope to prevent any unnecessary waste of time, effort, and space.
Now the real question is how can we picture these two macro temporal waves of 'Korean' immigrants? Were the immigration/invasions sporadic or organized? In other words, were the two waves more like the migrations/invasions of the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes to the British Isles, (and, later, those of the Danes, the Swedes, and the Norwegians) or the bellicose invasion of the Norman French in 1066 lead by William the Conqueror?
Without going into a detailed analysis, but only relying on a rough and superficial comparison with British historiography, there is reason to believe that the first was sporadic and that the second was also sporadic. These are to be understood by comparing the time of the first historical compilations in each of the four kingdoms of Kokuryo, Baikje, Shilla, and Wa-Japan. (Of course, there were many more states that failed to leave an extant history/historiography to this day, so this is a simplistic formulation at best.)
1) 1st official reference to Kokuryo 高句麗 historical recording; "at the beginning of the State" is understood as some time in the reign years of the 6th king Kukjo Wang 國祖王 (53-146 CE) of Kokuryo 高句麗. Some time during his reign was started the continuous recording of the annals. The year is assumed 146 CE at the latest, but not earlier than 53.
2) 1st official reference to Baikje 百濟 historical recording; in the reign years of Kunchogo wang 近肖古王 (346-375 CE) of Baikje 百濟 Master Kohung 高興 writes
Documents and the Annals (Soki) 書紀
3) 1st official reference to Shilla 新羅 historical recording; in the 6th year of Jinhung wang 眞興王 (540-576) i.e. 545, Kochilbu 居柒夫 writes
National History (Kuksa) 國史.
4) 1st & 2nd historical recording of Japan 日本: Koshiki
古事記 712 and
Documents and Annals of Nippon (Nihonshogi)
日本書紀 720.
It can be understood that sporadic immigration/invasion of the Japanese Archipelago prevented a stabilized (closed) society in the Kingdom of Wa, continuing until the end of the war between the 3 Korean Kingdoms of Korea between 660 and 670. In the year 670, the Wa ﾋ彖 reinforcement to support the recovery of the Kingdom of Baikje 百濟 failed in the renowned Battle of River Baekchon 白村江. This was also the year that King Tenchi 天智 (9th yr of reign) changed the Kingdom's title from Wa 倭 to Nippon 日本.
This suggests that somehow a change in the Wa polity or Wa society was expressed in the revised nationalistic self-identification as the land of the rising sun Nippon 日本 instead of the traditional Wa 倭 'pictograph of a woman holding an ear of grain, by extension meek, gentle, flexible, weak' as the New Dynastic History of Tang Empire 新唐書 states,
日本古倭奴也...(omit)...天智死子天武立子摠特立 咸亨元年遣使賀平高麗 後稍習夏音惡倭名更號日本 使者自言國近日所出以爲名.
In literal translation, this reads "Nippon is the Ancient (kingdom) of Wano......(king) Tenchi died, and the son Tenmu ascended to the throne; (he also died, and) the son Chitou ascended to the throne. In the first reign year of 咸亨 (670) they sent an emissary to congratulate the levelling of Kokuryo. Later they learned the Chinese language and, abhorring the name Wa 倭, changed it to Nippon. In the emissary's own words, 'Our state is close to the place where the sun rises, so we took it as our state designation.'"
Note: My reasoning for 'unrelenting, sporadic migration/invasion resulting in social turmoil and the loss of historical records/writing' is not my own idea but that of Gary Ledyard in his article entitled (Sorry I forgot; I'll try to find it and supply it if I can.) He analyzes the Germanic invasion of Britannia and blames that for the loss of historical memory during that period. He then applies the British model to the Korean peninsula in the Sanguo Wei-Jin Nanbeichao period 三國魏晉南北朝時代. Here I applied basically the same idea to Japan during the same period but extending it into the Sui-Tang period 隨唐 down to the inauguration of Nippon 日本 in 712-720.
from http://www.asianresearch.org/articles/2410.html
Although this site has useful and accurate information, to my regret it also has inaccurate information coloured by Korean nationalism. I am glad you were able to exercise prudence and select those pieces of information that seem indeed trustworthy.
maybe...not even the emperor has Korean blood...maybe all of the Japanese are indeed Korean...now you(Japanese) know who is your ancestor right??
Your statement is probably true to a degree, yet we might want to be careful when we say this. Interestingly this is in parallel to Charles Darwin being accused of claiming that 'humans are descended from monkeys'; although Darwin never said that. Still, that's what many people thought, and some people still do.
Not because you are wrong or anything; it's just that certain Japanese will take it as an insult due to their condescension toward Koreans. So how about saying Koreans and the Japanese have strong blood ties or at least a not insignificant amount of shared ancestry?
One reason I can point out as responsible for the anti-Korean feelings (from anti-Shilla in origin) is history. This goes back far into the 6th-7th century when the whole Korean peninsula, Manchuria, and even Japan have swept away in the war between the Sui/Tang-Shilla alliance and the non-allied Gaya, Baekje, and Kokuryo.
When Shilla et al. destroyed the capitals and royal houses of Gaya, Baekje and Kokuryo, many fled to the kingdom of Wa ﾋ彖, what is now Japan, and certainly, the anti-Shilla emotions must have run high among at least a significant portion of Wa society as it accepted the refugees. The current emperor's Baekje lineage might also have certain bearings on the politico-military alliance between Baekje and Wa for example.
Thanks for all the hard research, 梁铠赞!